
Question:
I went to a family dinner this evening. About nine months ago I went vegan. My parents are aware of this and have been supportive in trying to provide things that I can eat (although I always bring some food of my own so not to inconvenience them). But usually my mom will make me a side dish that we can all share. Tonight we had other relatives over, they all know, because my family likes to talk and that was something that kind of surprised everyone when I went vegan. Anyway, my uncle hunts and there has been a joke for a few years that he has been trying to get me to eat deer meat. I always refused, even when I ate meat. So tonight we were at dinner and my mom pointed out to me a couple dishes she said I could eat. One was a casserole (kind of like a pot pie) that had vegetables in it that was supposed to be vegan. But you couldn’t really see the vegetables because of the crust. Everyone started eating and they waited until I had taken a few bites of everything and then my uncle just burst out laughing and screamed, “how does Miss Vegan like the deer?” I am furious that I ate meat. I mean, obviously I know I am not going to die. But what is making me mad is that everyone at that table (my parents, my brother and his girlfriend, my uncle, my aunt, and my grandmother) all knew and complicit into tricking me into eating meat, and deer meat (which I had always refused to eat) at that. They all thought it was hilarious and when I got up and said that I didn’t think it was funny and said I was going home everyone got mad and told me to grow up and learn to take a joke. So I ended up sitting back down and not eating and everyone just ignored me for the rest of the night. I don’t know how to address this, I am so upset and I don’t see why they thought they had a right to do this or why they think it was funny. What would you do?
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